Should I follow Natpro instructions to the letter?

by Angela
(Iowa)

Please bare with me through this rather long story - I have a question at the end, I swear!

For years I was lucky enough to have regular periods, but about five years ago, I started having "non-threatening" but irritating symptoms - dry skin, acne in odd places, hair loss, bloating, insomnia, anxiety attacks, weight gain, tiredness, depression. I went to three different doctors and had a variety of tests (none for hormones), all of which found nothing. I asked each doctor - could it be hormones? They all thought no, because the periods were regular - all any of them wanted to do was give me hypertension meds for my growing high blood pressure (which I also did not used to have as an "organic, mostly vegetarian, eat macrobiotics, yoga fan") - my mother over the course of her life, has had 6 heart attacks, the last of which left her heart badly damaged and dependent on a pacemaker to stay alive (possibly for not very long, we are told). Doctors concluded that EVERY ONE of those heart attacks was triggered by a bad reaction to hypertension meds - so I told my doctors, thanks but no thanks - I'll just live with it or figure it out myself.

Fast forward to this year - I am 40. I have never had a child. A few months ago I missed a period. I figured I wasn't pregnant (home tests confirmed it), but after week 5 went by with no period, I visited yet another doctor (a woman this time, hoping I would have a more sympathetic ear) to find out why. She ran a blood test for thyroid function, one for pregnancy, found the thyroid results to be fine, and that I was not pregnant - and told me I was overweight and my blood pressure was too high and I really needed to come in every week for a BP check and I needed meds for the hypertension. "What about the screwy hormones?" I asked. She essentially shrugged it off, told me it was probably menopause and sent me on my way. *sigh*

A week after that visit, I started spotting. Problem solved! I thought. HA HA. What followed was five weeks of mostly painless but INSANE bleeding with clots big enough to qualify as internal organs. When I started feeling weak and dizzy in spite of doubled up vitamins and boosted iron supplements, I went back to the doctor. She was pleased my BP was "down a little" (probably because I was close to passing out from blood loss) and told me there was nothing I could do about the endless bleeding until it had gone on for a couple of YEARS - it was definitely menopause and I just had to find a way to deal with it - and did I need help dieting and why wouldn't I take the hypertension meds because I "might not" have the same reactions as my mother did... I politely told her no to everything and set out to fix it myself.

In my search I found this site. Hoorah! I went out and bought Progest (the only cream I could find locally) and gave it a try. In 24 hrs, the clots had stopped - bleeding was still there, but it was slowing. Yay! I thought - and ordered the Natpro. The Progest twice a day made life easier while I waited for it to arrive. When it did, I was surprised to find they recommended hourly applications for my symptoms (a LOT of cream) which I am rather too busy for, but I managed to use about 1/4 tsp every two hours and doubled that and applied a.s.a.p. if I went too long because of work or other distractions (like sleep). In a couple weeks the great blood letting has stopped.

Now -the instructions say to decrease the applications gradually after bleeding stops until it starts again, then wait two weeks and start the cream application again (to "reset" the cycle), so I did. When I was down to using the cream 3x a day, the flow returned - with a vengeance. I stopped the cream and am currently on day 5 of abject misery with clots and bleeding worse than before.

The toilet is my new best friend - he is sooo cool. I like to sit on him all day and read magazines until I can't feel my feet. Speaking of feet, I have fluid build up in my lower legs and I am DRAGGING through the days, winded and exhausted and usually with a headache. My question to you lovely people with more experience with this (FINALLY- sorry) is this right? Should I be doing something differently? Would it be OK to use the cream everyday but in varying amounts to try to "reset" things? Is "resetting" even necessary at this point? Do you think it's safe to just use all the time - i.e. the same amount everyday for forever (or at least a really long time)? Because I felt GREAT (better than I have in years, actually) after the cream had a chance to work and I am seriously unhappy with things right now. And I have way too much work to do to be able to spend all day and night visiting the toilet, no matter how cool he is.

Any advice/ information would be greatly appreciated, I have learned more things in a few days from this site than I have from four doctors in six years - So A big kudos from me to anyone out there helping keep it going for all of us. THANK-YOU! THANK-YOU! THANK-YOU!

Comments for Should I follow Natpro instructions to the letter?

I am not an expert but I would love to help. I don't think you should take any breaks, so use Natpro every day. The instructions for using Natpro I am sure are just a guideline because we are all different and our hormone levels vary, so you have to become your own healer. Your symptoms are a good guideline and you are clearly describing Estrogen dominance. You need to use enough Natpro to relieve those symptoms and then reduce slowly until you get to a level where you feel better. There is no one dose for everyone, so read as much as you can on this site and you may have to play around with the dose a bit. One thing you said didn't make sense. I have heard Wray recommend that one use the cream twice a day and I suppose more if your symptoms are bad but don't stress about how often you use it, as long as you stick to the minimum amount and use it at least twice a day. Good luck.

Apr 12, 2014

Heavy bleedsby: Diane

Hi there~ just curious... Have you ever had and ultrasound to see if you have fibroids of the uterus? Might explain the crazy bleeds. Also, have you ever been offered an ablation of the uterus? Generally speaking, you can be on progesterone every day with our a break. Many women in our office are. But I would first rule out uterine fibroids as the cause of the excessive clots and bleeds. Diane

Apr 12, 2014

Should I follow Natpro instructions to the letter?by: RJ

Hello Angela!You're so funny....yes, he is so very cool but has a tendency to cause these ugly varicose veins. When you say "follow Natpro instructions to the letter"....which set of instructions? You have tons of estrogen built up and there isn't any reason not to take it from here on out everyday. Read my story....I was in the ER because I thought I was having a heart attack....next day I started. Went to the doctor many times after that saying something was wrong with my heart only to start my period the same day or the next. I can remember my mother's blood pressure going sky high...nose bleeds, water retention and in the hospital she would go to be monitored...only to have her period start in that time frame. I weigh 280....still...am 48 and I use anywhere from 400-1000 mg a day, everyday for over two years now....the more fat the more testosterone and then good old estrogen. More progesterone isn't going to hurt you at this stage, only too little. Read Wray's site and take all the supplements...they all go hand-in-hand and don't stop them....ever. You have found the site that will help you get well. Trust Wray's information and recommendations. She has saved me and many of my family from endless doctor bills. Good luck to you and remember one thing...hundreds of we women have the same symptoms....some will flop around like a fish out of water for the rest of their lives looking for a solution and others will settle in take the advice and have some peace of mind...make sure you are the latter. God Bless! RJ

Apr 12, 2014

Hope this helpsby: Kelly

Hi! Ok this is my opinion and what I would do. Take the amount daily that stops your bleeding for three months straight. Do not stop or try to cycle because it gives your estrogen a chance to flair up again. ALL your symptoms you are dealing with is from estrogen dominance. Then if you are feeling more stable taper down very slowly. Like 20 mg less every 4 or 6 wks. Then go down again if your stable if not stay there a while. My doctor kept trying to get me to go off a few days a month all it did was make it worse. Your symptoms need to be gone before you start cycling. I know if I wouldn't of tried going off a few days a month before I was stable I wouldn't of had as many problems it was like throwing gas on warm coals. It would just start again.Oh and don't really expect help from doctors. They would just rather pump you full of drugs and blame you then discuss progesterone.Hope this helps and is clear enough. If it helps your not alone! Good luck Kelly

Apr 14, 2014

Many thanks!by: Anonymous

Thank-you to all of you who replied - it is a BIG help!

@ Diane - I have never had an ultrasound for anything - lol, but I would not be surprised if there were fibroids lurking around in there, as my sister has been diagnosed with them. @ RJ - I was following the advice that came with the Natpro for people with constant heavy bleeds - and I did read your story the first time I was on this site! It struck a chord with me as I had thought my first anxiety attack was a heart attack, as I am not the type to panic and it was completely strange to me - I would have been in the ER if I wasn't self-diagnosed as VERY allergic to ERs and unable to enter through their doors unless unconscious. I already take a vit.D supplement (as I am a pasty ginger who spontaneously combusts if out in the sun too long) as well as a good multi, Shatavari and Vitex - I may be doing some adjusting to deal with this lovely new development in my life - hooray.@ Kelly - I will definitely be trying the approach you suggest - I feel like I turned myself into a yoyo this last couple of weeks! And I'm afraid I agree with your thoughts on doctors - I live in a small town where there are a total of two full time physicians, and if you can't get any help out of them, tough luck! Trying to get tests done, or references to doctors in the city is like pulling teeth, and I think doctors everywhere are far too willing to stuff people full of drugs (that they often don't know much about) without ever knowing what is actually wrong. Sometimes when I listen to people talk about their health and doctor woes, I feel like they are guinea pigs in some huge dangerous experiment where doctors guess at how to treat them based on scanty data and the advice of a high pressure drug salesmen! I think I will just poddle along with my herbs and creams for as long as I can - that way at least I am fully in charge of my own experiment!

Again, my thanks to you all - I am glad to have met you, and I hope you all have much success in maintaining your health!

Although this web site is not intended to be prescriptive, it is intended, and hoped, that it will induce in you a sufficient level of scepticism about some health care practices to impel you to seek out medical advice that is not captive to purely commercial interests, or blinded by academic and institutional hubris. You are encouraged to refer any health problem to a health care practitioner and, in reference to any information contained in this web site, preferably one with specific knowledge of progesterone therapy.